1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to a packet error detection method, and more particularly, to a method of detecting a packet error of a return link that is performed in a satellite communication apparatus and can be applied to detection of an error of a packet transmitted through a return link from a satellite terminal device to a central station.
2. Related Art
Due to a generational advance in mobile communication technology and the rapid development of high-speed Internet technology, it has become possible to readily use various information communication services including the Internet in a fixed or mobile environment. These days, users and service providers are increasingly demanding high-speed mobile communication services that can be provided at any time in any place without limitations of space. However, existing communication services based on ground networks cannot satisfy such demands due to limitations of areas in which the communication services can be provided.
Meanwhile, satellite communication technology is regarded as the only means capable of providing a communication service to special mobile objects, such as high-speed mobile objects and ships, as well as regions that cannot be connected via a ground network using a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) requiring small capacity and low power, and associated research is actively ongoing. In particular, since a satellite communication system enables construction of a global service infrastructure and can provide a high-quality communication service, work for building a system that supports a ubiquitous network environment using the satellite communication technology is under way.
In a bidirectional satellite communication system, broadcasting and communication data transmission from a central station to a satellite terminal device (or terminal station) is performed through a forward link according to a Digital Video Broadcasting via Satellite (DVB-S) standard, and broadcasting and communication data transmission from the satellite terminal device to the central station is performed through a return link according to a DVB-Return Channel via Satellite (RCS) standard.
Lately, universalization of Internet services based on satellite networks is requiring technology for a satellite terminal device to provide high-quality service through a highly efficient return link. Standardization relating to this technology is currently being completed. As an encapsulation technique, there is a method of determining a packet error of a satellite return link using cyclic redundancy check (CRC) or packet sequence number information and reassembling a packet.
In U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008-0175247 (title of the invention: Network layer error control systems and methods), a network layer error control method is disclosed in which a predetermined device generates an error control header for a received packet, encapsulates the generated error control header to transmit the error control header at the network layer, and then transmits the encapsulated error control header, and a device receiving the transmitted error control header processes the error control header and analyzes error control information.
However, hitherto proposed return link techniques show low transmission efficiency, or process normally received subsequent packets as loss in a burst error transmission environment.